Scientists have discovered a new type of planetary collision called “kiss-and-capture,” where Pluto and proto-Charon briefly ...

The report, published in “Nature Geoscience,” describes how the minuscule dwarf planet could lure in Charon, a space rock nearly half its size, to orbit. The authors suggest that Pluto and ...

As the gatekeepers to the Kuiper Belt, Charon and Pluto are a unique double dwarf planet system. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it ...

This once-in-a-generation shift is a pivotal power play in a saga that will unfold in the years and decades to come.

"We were definitely surprised by the 'kiss' part of kiss-and-capture. There hasn't really been a kind of impact before where the two bodies only temporarily merge before re-separating!" ...

Charon is large in size relative to Pluto, and is locked in a tight orbit with the dwarf planet. A new simulation suggests how it ended up there. By Jonathan O’Callaghan Some 4.5 billion years ...

One idea is that Pluto got its moon system when a massive object smashed into the dwarf planet. The resulting debris then formed into the moons. This hypothesis was nicknamed the “Big Whack.” ...

The number of planets that orbit the sun depends on what you mean by “planet,” and that’s not so easy to define ...

When astronomers found a large world farther out than Pluto, it became one of the final nails in the coffin of our ninth ...

With Charon being half Pluto’s size, experts have struggled to explain how it ended up in the dwarf planet’s domain. Now, a team of researchers has suggested that Pluto may have secured Charon ...

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